The Burns Harbor Town Council revisited a recent agenda item on Wednesday to erect new speed limit signs throughout the town as well as setting new limits on nearly all town roads. For safety concerns, those at the meeting said the new limits should be lowered to at least 20 miles per hour or even to 15 mph in residential areas like The Village and Harbor Trails subdivision.

One Town Council member who suggested lowering the limits was Toni Biancardi who said she wants kids to be safe.

Town Marshal Jerry Price said drivers will probably slow to about 20 mph if the limits were set at 15. Any higher and drivers would probably cruise at 30 mph.

The council plans to adopt a resolution at its next meeting to set the new 15 mph speed limits on all town roads except for Old Porter Road and Haglund Road. General Maintenance superintendent Randy Skalku has been assigned the duty of creating an itinerary of all the roads to be included in the ordinance.

The town will also need to purchase new signs in order to enforce the new limits.

In a similar matter, Burns Harbor Clerk-Treasurer Jordan says she has noticed little change about vehicles parking too close to the stop signs in Harbor Trails despite the town’s effort in getting the word out to rectify the matter. The council may take the action of purchasing “No Parking Here to Corner” signs if the problem still persists. The signs will help police officers enforce the law.

Price told the council he was wowed the town saw only three crashes throughout the month of April with zero injuries. “I never seen anything like this,” said Price. “This has been a banner month.”

Price did, however, report a steady stream of traffic tickets. Burns Harbor police ticketed 195 violators last month and in addition gave 29 warning tickets and 91 verbal warnings. Only 13 arrests were made last month, 10 of them were misdemeanors, 3 were felonies.

The police department is also applying for at $4,000 matching grant for the purchase of a newer vehicle with the capability of using E85 as a fuel source. Part of the agreement would be to decommission one of the older police vehicles that run on regular gasoline. Price said the grant should be ready hopefully in July.

Building commissioner Bill Arney, who dually serves as the town’s fire chief, said six new building permits came through the department last week which indicated some growth compared to what has been the status quo.

The fire department responded to a total of 18 calls and reported nearly six hundred man hours in April. The department held a total of seven training nights and trained 60 firefighters. Arney also reported that the ambulance service is continuing to run well.

Arney said the fire department is offering to replace old smoke detectors or supply one to those who do not have smoke detectors. The smoke detectors were purchased through a fire marshal’s grant. Those who wish to take a smoke detector must first fill out a required document.

The fire department has offered the community its service to install the smoke detectors. Arney said the department already installed four detectors in the last three days.

The council also unanimously approved two bids for the fire department, one awarded to Shamrock Painting to paint the fire station which has not been done in nearly 20 years and the other awarded to Higgins Door to replace hinges in need of repair. The bids combined were approximately $6,700.

In other business Wednesday:

• Jordan reported the count in the U.S. Census has reached 78 percent for the town which is six percentage points higher than the state average. Jordan says she wishes the number would reach 100 percent and still is knocking on doors. McGee extended his praise to Jordan for taking the extra effort to collect the data.

• The deadline for the Burns Harbor Scholarship Application is June 30. Students in local high schools and trade schools are eligible for the award, said Jordan. The council will award three scholarships of $1,000 each at their meeting in August.

• The town rummage sale is planned for July this year instead of the usual date in August. The council is looking for a leader to head the event. Jordan said she has older office supplies that could be sold and asked the town attorney Bob Welsh if the town departments were required to sell their equipment at a public auction. Welsh said he was unsure and will look to see if a law mandates the town to hold an auction rather than directly selling the equipment.

• Town Park Board representative Jennifer Barnes said Lakeland Park is slated to open on Memorial Day weekend. An aeration fountain has been ordered for the Harbor Lake. Barnes said she is currently working on starting a summer art camp.

• The Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitor Commission presented to the council a presentation on the State of Porter County Tourism. The PCCRVC is giving each community in Porter County its own unique brand to attract visitors. Burns Harbor has been given “The Art of Living Green” for its unique combination of residential, commercial and industrial zoning.